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Show Spotlighting UTAH 1946 Is The Year 1946 is a vital year in the lives i of all Utah people. In spite of ! past worries or future hopes, we must go on living in this year-j year-j As a natural reaction following the years of Intense strain of wartime, some of us seem to feel that we can now sit back for a few months and wait for things to happen. As a matter of fact, things go on happening whether we desire to participate or not. j Utah cannot afford to let its j economy and wartime standard i of living slip back even for a month. We need a lot of new m-j m-j come to take the place of the I dollars formerly spent by the government for the purposes of war. We need to do something about tapping these new sources of income now, in the spring of 1946. Subsequent years will then have a solid base from which to grow and expand. Our immediate concern rests with the lucrative tourist trade, the greatest available source of new business in the United Stat-' Stat-' es today. These people are now i on the move in greater numbers than ever before in history. Is ' Utah getting its equitable share, ; or are we hoping to get it in 1947 or some future year? Dozens of times every week we read appeals ap-peals to prepare for the influx of tourists in 1947. Are the tour-t tour-t ists of 1946 any less important? This is a matter of urgency; any-j any-j thing accomplished in 1946 will also serve in 1947 and subsequent years. Based- on several good reasons, it is safe to assume that the tourist influx will be as great j in 1946 as in 1947 or 1948 or any other year. Some of these reasons rea-sons are: 1. Millions of persons are fol-1 fol-1 lowing the immediate and lmper- ative urge to get away from the strain of wartime surroundings. 2. People have more money ' now than ever before. They can-! can-! not buy many of the things they desire, so are spending some of it for traveling purposes. In another an-other yea rmueh of this money will have been spent in filling the back log of consumer goods. 3. Many service people are taking tak-ing a good look around before settling down for the rest of their lives. They are looking for nev. places to live and deciding on occupations oc-cupations for the future. 4. Many displaced persons are ' on the move, as well as many I more who are following new population trends. The Cavalcade Is Moving The tourist travel each and every month in 1946 has been j almost fabulous. A quotation from the "Chief News", trade : organ of Wasatch Oil Refining company, gives the following comparison for January, of persons per-sons entering California through the Sacramento gateway, in private pri-vate automobiles: 202,598 in 1946, against 80,491 in January 1945, ;and 69,425 in 1939. Such an increase in-crease over 1939 is almost fantastic, fan-tastic, yet it is true. It may be . properly assumed that most of these 202,598 persons came from ! or through Utah. To those who are vitally interested in the economic econ-omic welfare of the state, in its income and employment, it be- comes a matter of great concern as to just how long these people, j and hundreds of thousands of others traveling other highways, spent in Utah and how much money they left to bolster the economy of this state. This is a serious matter, serious to the ' opportunities of all citizens of , Utah. Why Not A Tourist School The state department of publicity pub-licity and industrial development, develop-ment, in cooperation with the state office of public instruction, are prepared to assist communi-i communi-i ties, right on your own ground, j to put into effect some workable' programs to enable each area to cash in on this tourist gold right I now, this month and next, in j 1946. Men who are familiar with j tourist problems are ready, not alone to discuss community needs, but to offer services that will unquestionably fill these needs. Tourist information schools with adequate follow-up training, train-ing, seem to be an immediate need. Any city desiring such assistance as-sistance is invited to get in touch with the state department of pub licity and industrial development- What is done in 1946 can well influence the pattern of our years to come. |